Rookie Discussion [19/20] [part I]

[MemphisX]

Ja Morant with a triple double in an ugly ass road win.

[BAMAFREAK]

Aside from the physical gifts and big #s, Ja just has “it”. That “it” that the mega stars have. He just controls the flow of the game. He’s super intelligent and cerebral. He’s got the killer attitude to go along with it.
I’m not sure how much room he has to fill out, but if he can put on 15-20 pounds organically, keeping his burst and hangtime, then he could reach that top 5-10 level soon

[BAMAFREAK]

Ja with the triple double to lead Memphis back from a double digit deficit. Not too shabby.

He completely took over and pretty much single handedly won that one.

[Buzzard]

DeAndre Hunter: 19, 9, and 5 Steals. He played 47 Minutes in the double overtime win. Meanwhile his counterpart for the Knicks, RJ Barrett, started but only played 21 minutes ( 4 fouls ).

[Dacost]

What JA did today was just unreal taking over games like that is just something a few players can do.

[Whole Truth]

I was trying to think of where to post this, and this is as good a place as any. A few weeks ago after Morant had another great performance social media was abuzz and Shannon Sharpe and T-Mac in particular had some hot takes. Sharpe said Morant will have a better career than Zion and McGrady said he’s going to be an MVP and the best player in the game.

T-Mac’s statement isn’t so egregious on its own, but the point is that they were both saying these things without having seen Zion play a game yet. He’s only 8 games in but he’s had an incredibly strong start to his career and I’m not sure whose better between the two. I just don’t get the rush to ‘anoint’ someone as the best this, or best that, especially when the #1 pick in his draft hasn’t played yet.

Zion through 8 games: 20/7.5/2 on 61%TS and a 22.5 PER

The Pelicans are quite a bit better with him on the floor and it’s CLEAR when watching them that they are.

When posters on this site make a thread comparing Ja to a 2nd year Young, they make claim that Ja has better teammates without acknowledging that he is part reason why they're better. In Zions case, his team is better with him on the floor because he's a strong post option for a team that can adequately space the floor. They built that roster to maximize his game. That's like saying Cavs were better with Lebron, when they built the roster to compliment his game.

NO's has one of the best 2way guards in the league in 29yo Jrue holding their backcourt together on both ends. They have a proven 3pt specialist to my point above in Reddick, both Ingram & Ball are top lotto picks, with several years of experience & development.

Ja is playing with a 2nd year 20yo raw big that struggles to stay on floor with foul trouble, a rookie Clarke who plays an efficient 20 mins but off the bench & their most productive vet, Jonas, only averages 25 mins a night. It's why this roster was predicted to finish last. Even when they had Crowder, he was averaging 9pts on 36% shooting, yet Memphis currently hold the 8th seed in the West.

It's erroneous to ignore the fact that Pelicans built their roster to maximize a post threat.

To emphasize my point. Last night, Grizz shot 5-32 from 3, mostly open shots with Wizards packing the paint, so the spacing was poor as it has been for most of the season for a PG that prefers to drive than shoot. They left 10pts on the FT line & won the game because Morant put up a Triple double in a game that Memphis had no business winning.

Put Zion on a team not built for his post game with very little spacing that he has to carry, see if he leads them to wins as Morant has with Memphis, then make that point again.

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[Amare_1_Knicks]

I’m not ignoring anything when it comes to the way the Pelicans roster is set up. They have a pretty solid team in NO, but that doesn’t mean that you just plug any player in their at the 4 and it’ll translate to success. Zion is very good, very early — and this is all very shortly after his injury. It isn’t impossible for a guy to have a roster tailored to his skill set and then still underperform or being a negative out there.

To your final point, “put Zion a team like Memphis...”, well that’s neither here nor there, isn’t it ? A completely undisprovable statement. There’s no way we’d know that either way. There are observations and assertions that could be made either way, we just won’t know.

I can’t penalize Zion for having good teammates, or a team centered around his skill set. Also, though that MEM core is young, they’re good and it extends beyond just what Morant is offering, to be sure. The point here isn’t that Morant isn’t very good for a rookie, and I wasn’t even necessarily saying he isn’t better than Zion, but instead I was keying in on some borderline hyperbolic takes across social media.

Zion’s right there with him, and if the draft could be redone I’d bet most teams would still choose Zion first.

[Dacost]

The thing about Zion vs Morant is that JA is a PG who controls the ball while Zion is a basically a BIG who needs to find his offense within the flow of the game.

To me this issue shows up at the end of game situations.Morant is easily able to take over and close out games in the 4th while Zion really depends on his teammates to get him the ball.

The PG position just brings alot more value to a team then the PF position.

[Whole Truth]

I’m not ignoring anything when it comes to the way the Pelicans roster is set up. They have a pretty solid team in NO, but that doesn’t mean that you just plug any player in their at the 4 and it’ll translate to success. Zion is very good, very early — and this is all very shortly after his injury. It isn’t impossible for a guy to have a roster tailored to his skill set and then still underperform or being a negative out there.

To your final point, “put Zion a team like Memphis...”, well that’s neither here nor there, isn’t it ? A completely undisprovable statement. There’s no way we’d know that either way. There are observations and assertions that could be made either way, we just won’t know.

I can’t penalize Zion for having good teammates, or a team centered around his skill set. Also, though that MEM core is young, they’re good and it extends beyond just what Morant is offering, to be sure. The point here isn’t that Morant isn’t very good for a rookie, and I wasn’t even necessarily saying he isn’t better than Zion, but instead I was keying in on some borderline hyperbolic takes across social media.

Zion’s right there with him, and if the draft could be redone I’d bet most teams would still choose Zion first.

Not saying Zion isn't good & while I agree with you that you can't just plug any player in with the same results, same time you can plug a player into an ideal setting & make him look better than what he would normally be in another setting.

What's also un disprovable is how much Zion's situation is contributing to his & his teams production.

I'm making the distinction of the 2 situations they're both in in terms of making a team better.

If were going to talk about a team being better with someone. Morant has a less than an ideal team around him sitting 8th seed. Zion looks great with ideal spacing & perimeter defenders.

[clyde21]

I

Zion’s right there with him, and if the draft could be redone I’d bet most teams would still choose Zion first.

Zion would go #1 almost over anyone

[LoveMyRaps]

If you still haven't gotten a chance to watch Terence Davis play, tune in tonight. He'll be making his third start. Has scored 20+ in both of previous starts - averaging 22/10/3.
If you love NBA basketball, I highly recommend watching him play. He's a treat to watch.


His last 4 games:
19.8 PPG
5.8 RPG
60.0% FG
60.7% 3PT (17/28)

[Buzzard]

Reddish back after missing four games in concussion protocol. Fernando is still out. Hunter nor Reddish played great but they played well in a tough loss. I do not think the Hawks have won the second game of a back to back this season. This one was a little tougher with it following a double overtime game last night.

Hunter: 10 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK, 4 of 8 from the field and 2 of 2 from three.
Reddish: 11 PTS, 2REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 4 of 8 from the field and 2 of 4 from three.

Reddish looks like the best PG/SG defender the Hawks have. If he keeps knocking down those threes, he could push Huerter out of the starting lineup and into a 6th man role.

[BAMAFREAK]

If you still haven't gotten a chance to watch Terence Davis play, tune in tonight. He'll be making his third start. Has scored 20+ in both of previous starts - averaging 22/10/3.
If you love NBA basketball, I highly recommend watching him play. He's a treat to watch.


His last 4 games:
19.8 PPG
5.8 RPG
60.0% FG
60.7% 3PT (17/28)

3pts
2boards
0 assists
3 fouls

[Buzzard]

A little more on Cam.

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[LoveMyRaps]

If you still haven't gotten a chance to watch Terence Davis play, tune in tonight. He'll be making his third start. Has scored 20+ in both of previous starts - averaging 22/10/3.
If you love NBA basketball, I highly recommend watching him play. He's a treat to watch.


His last 4 games:
19.8 PPG
5.8 RPG
60.0% FG
60.7% 3PT (17/28)

3pts
2boards
0 assists
3 fouls

Only played 15 minutes.
It's okay. He didn't start, I wasn't expecting Lowry to play but he did.

[LSandersBong]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2874604-grading-2019-nba-1st-round-draft-picks-so-far-this-season#slide11

Thought this was a good read, to be fair I actually agreed with most of the grades given and the reasons behind them.

[GAthens34]

If Morant isn't the ROTY then noone is. Just like Giannis and the MVP.
The only award worth monitoring is DPOY.

[Colbinii]

Naz Reid is looking like a beast. Surprised he went undrafted.

[Jurassic_Park]

If Morant isn't the ROTY then noone is. Just like Giannis and the MVP.
The only award worth monitoring is DPOY.

both races were over a while ago... i think people are just discussing rookies for their day to day play now

anyone who thinks ROY is still up for grabs needs to go visit a medical clinic asap.

[clyde21]

Naz Reid is looking like a beast. Surprised he went undrafted.

his per36 numbers looks hella good (yes I know super small sample size but still)

same with Smailagic...i think both guys need more mins.